The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/HD2951xC776/co28 or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/HD2951xC776/co28 240 CO-OPERATION PUBLICATIONS —OF— THE CO-OPERATIVE LEAGUE COOPERATION HISTORICAL Per Copy Per 100 3. Story of Co-operation .............$ .10 $6.00 7. British Co-operative Movement..... .10 6.00 3fc Consumers' Co-operative Movement in U. S., 1926................. .10 6.00 39. Consumers' Co-operative Societies in N. Y. State (Published by Con sumers' League ................ .10 59. Co-operative Movement in Europe.. .05 4.00 64. Progress of Co-operation in United States. ..................... -OS 4.00 TECHNICAL 4. How to Start and Run a Rochdale Co-operative Society ............ .10 4.00 6. A Model Constitution and By-Laws for a Co-operative Society....... .05 2.50 8. Co-operative Education. Duties of Educational Committee Defined... .10 9. How to Start a Co-operative Whole sale ........................ .10 27. Why Cooperative Stores Fail...... .02 1.00 2. Co-operative Store Management..... .10 14. How to Start and Run a Women's Guild....................... .05 15. How to Organize a District Co-opera tive League ................... .10 29. Credit Union Primer (By Ham and Robinson). ................. .50 43. Co-operative Housing ............. .10 50. A B C of Co-operatic Housing.... .10 51. Model Lease for Co-operative Apart ment House ......... ...... ~ ' . 0 MISCELLANEOUS 16. Model Co-op State Law..... ...... .10 46. Producers' Co-operative Industries.. .10 11. Control of Industry by ti People through the Co-operative NL /ement .10 12. Credit Union and Co-operativ.. Store .05 1.75 33. Credit Union and Co-operative Bank .05 13. The Place of Co-operation A.^ong Other Movements ............ , .25 34. Co-operative Movement (Yiddish).. .02 1 25 30. " When the Whistle Blew " (Story, by Bruce Calvert) .............. .06 65. Reading List on Co-operation....... .10 66. International Directory of Co-opera tive Organizations .............. -6C 41. Social Aspects of Farmers' Co-opera tive Marketing (By Benson Y. Landis). .................... .25 42. Co-op Homes for Europe's Homeless .10 53. Real First Aid for the Farmers.... .05 55. A Better World to Live In........ .05 57. How a Consumers' Co-operative Dif fers from Ordinary Business...-, .02 .60 60. The " Moral Equivalent " of Jazz... .02 62. Buttons (League emblem), $i inch diameter ................... 2.00 63. Sign or Transparency'of League Em blem. Green and gold, 8 in. diam.. .25 15.00 67. Stock certificates, engraved, with League Emblem. Bound in books of 100, 200, or 250. ONE-PAGE LEAFLETS (One Cent each; 50 Cents per 100; $2.50 per 500; $4.00 per 1,000.) (1) Principles and Aims of The Co-operative League; (20) Why Loyalty Is Necessary; (21) Cost and Crime of Credit; (25) Resolutions Adopted by A. F. of L,; (26) Factory Workers Co-operate!; (28) Do You Know About Co-operation in Europe?; (40) Have You a Committee on Education and Recreation?; (44) What Is the Co-operative Movement?; (45) Schools and Stores; (47) A Man's Right to a Job- (4«\ -r- Co-operators; (49) A Way Out; (61) rn lps »° Brings Disarmament. ' "-"'Operation MONTHLY PUBLICATIONS $1.65 if paid by check. BOOKS The following books are recommended on the best discussions of the modern Co-operative ment. They may be ordered through The League- Bergengren, Roy F.: Co-operative Banking, A 1-50 Credit Union Book Blanc, Elsie T. : Co-operative Movement in Russia .............................. Brightwill, L. R.: Animal "Co-op" Book— For Children . . . . . . . $3.00 2.50 .15 ............. Chase and Schlink: Your Money's Worth, A Book for Consumers .................... 2 00 Faber, Harald: Co-operation in Danish Agricu'- ture, 1918 ............................". 2.75 Flanagan, J. A.: Wholesale Co-operation in Scotland, 1920 ......................... j.00 Gebhard, Hannes: Co-operation in Finland, 5516 2.00 Gide, C. : Consumers' Co-operative Societies American edition and notes, 1922. • Cloth 2 00 Hall, Prof. Fred: Handbook for Members of Co operative Committees ................... 2.00 Hariis, Emerson P.: Co-operation, The Hope of the Consumer, 1918. Paper bound. ....... .60 Holyoake: Rochdale Pioneers ................ 1.00 Howe, Fred C. : Denmark, a Co-operative Com monwealth, 19H ....................... 2.00 Jessness, O. B. : Co-operative Marketing of Farm P.oducts ......................... 2.50 Madams j. P.: The Story Retold. ........... .50 Mears niid Tobriner: Principles and Practices of Co-operative Marketing. ............... 3.20 Nicholson. Isa: Our Story. .................. .25 Oerne, Anders: Co-operative Ideals and Problems 1.25 Owen, Robert: Autobiography .............. .50 Poisson, E.: The Co-operative Republic. ...... 1.75 Potter, B. : Co operative Movement in Great Britain .............................. 1.00 Redfern, --cy: The Story of the C. W. S..... 2.00 Redf cy: The Consumers' Place in So- •20 ............................. 1.00 jordon & Staples: Rural Reconstruction in Ireland, 1918 ......................... 1.00 Smith-Gord'in and O'Brien: Co-operation in Denmark ........................... 1.00 Smith-Gordon and O'Brien: Co-operation in Many Lands, 1920 ..................... 1-50 Stolinsky. A.: The Co-operative Movement. (In Yiddish). . .......................... 1-00 Warbasse, J. P. : Co-operative Democracy, 1927.. 1.50 Warbas.se, J. P.: What is Co-operation, 1927... .50 Warne, C E. • Corsumers' Co-opeutive Move ment in Illinois ........................ 3-5u Webb, B. and S.: Tl.e Consumers' Co-operative Movement, 1921. Board, $2.00; cloth..... 5.00 Webb, Catherine: Industrial Co-operation, 1917. 1.5° Woolf , Leonard : Co-operation and the Future of Industry. ........ .................. )-°° Woolf, L. : Socialism and Co-operation... .•••• 1JU CO-OPERATION, Bound \ol-jmes, 1915 to 1926 inclusive, each .....................-->• Report of American Co-operative Congresses, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1926. .............•••• 1JK Northern States Year Book, 1927. Paper..... The People's Year Book, 1928. Cloth, $1-00; ^ paper bound. ....................••••••• (.Ten cents postage should be added for all books.) OFFICIAL ORGAN OF The Cooperative League of U. S. A. VOLUME XIV January—December 1928 Published by The Cooperative League of U. S. A. 167 West 12th Street, New York City INDEX A PAGE Advertising...................................................... .............. 129 Agricultural Cooperation. . . . ..................................................... 212 Alaime, V. S................................................................ . .191, 203 /Uberta Cooperative Institute...................................................... 150 Apartments, Amalgamated Cooperative.......................................22, 198, 230 Arnold, M. E..................................................................... 203 Argentina, Cooperation in....................................................... 11, 228 Askeli, Henry. . . ............................................................. 95, 197 Auditing. - - .................................................................... 158 Auto Services, Cooperative........................................................ 55 Australia, Cooperation in.................................................... 50, 69, 208 Austria, Cooperation in........................................................... 151 B Bakeries . . . - ................; ..............................3, 56, 184, 224, 230, 231 Bank, Commonwealth Mutual Savings............................................... 95 Bank, International. . . .......................................................... 9 Bankers Cooperative Magazine..................................................... 97 Banks, Cooperative.............................................................. 95 Banks, Farmers' . . . ............................................................. 75 Banks, Labor ... .......................................................... 34, 94, 211 Barmirn and Bunk................................................................ 177 Becker, Emile................................................................... 222 Belgium, Cooperation in. ...................................................50, 90, 207 Bloomington Cooperative Society. ............................................... 15, 122 •Bonding of Employees......................................................... .48, 67 Book fleviews . . . ............................................................. 96, 177 Branch, E. E..................................................................192, 202 Budget, Supporters of the League.................................................. 236 Bulgarian Appeal. . . ..............................,.............................. 128 C Calendars ...................................................................... 197 Camp, A Cooperative........................................................... 93, 117 Canada, Cooperation in. ..........30, 31, 50, 70, 89, 131, 148i, 174, 177, 203, 213, 228, 232 Central Exchange, Superior, Wis.. ......................................55, 116, 158, 234 Central States Cooperative League........................................36, 57, 77, 122 Certificate of Approval ... ..................................................... 17, 77 Chain Store Development and Grange Wholesale...................................... 163 Chain Stores . . . ................................................ 95, 133, 163, 210, 232 Chase, Stuart .... .......................................................... 7, 27, 78. Chicago, 111., Cooperation in................................................. .14, 15, 142 China, Cooperative Progress in................................................... 11, 90 Cloquet Cooperative Society, Minn............................................ 12, 52, 210 Coal in the IT. S.................................................................. 85 Colonies ........................................................................ 176 Competition . . . . . ............................................................95, 210 Comparison of Cooperatives and Profit Business Abroad.. ..........................87, 327 Commonwealth Cooperative, New York City.......................................... 93 Commonwealth Mutual Savings Bank............................................... 95 Congress of The Cooperative League, Sixth. ..................109-, 175, 190, 202, 215, 233 Consumers Cooperative Services................................................. .98, 112 INDEX Consumers in Wonderland (Stuart Chase) . .................................. y Cooperation Abroad . . . ....................... .9, 20, 50', 69, 89, 129, 148, 172, 206* 228 Cooperation and the Classes ..................................................... „ Cooperative Trading Company, Waukegan, 111. ........................... 92, 182, 221 22"i Cooperatives in IT. S. Number 11,400 ............................................. •]„„ Controversies in The League ......................................... .107, 113, 196 2l« Constitution, Change? in League ................................................. g™ Consumers' Club . . . ........................................................... jgg Corgan, Oscar . . . ............................................................... gQg Correspondence ............................................................ 38, 58, 73 Correspondence School .... .............................................. 16, 34, 76, igg Coyle, A. F. ...................................................................... 9 Credit Union League of New York State. .......................................... 95 Credit Unions . . . . ...................................................... 112, 151, 212 Czechoslovakia, Cooperation in . . . ................................................. J§Q Dairies ................................................... .32, 35, 73, 92, 94, 182, 224 Daughters of American Revolution.................................................. 104 Denmark, Cooperation in . . . ...................................................... 207 Detroit Workers Cooperative Restaurant............................................. 157 Dickenson, W. O. . . . .........................................................163, 168 Dilloiivale, Ohio, New Cooperative Co............................................12, 68 Directors of The Cooperative League.............................................12, 233 Directors' Page . . . . ..................................................16, 37, 57, 77 District Leagues . . . ....................35, 56, 76, 96, 116, 126, 136, 194, 198, 214, 233 Ditchek, D. N. .................................................................. 78 Douglas, Paul H. ................................................................ 6 Duluth, Minn., Union Consumers Coop. Assoc. of..................................... 15 E Eastern States Cooperative League..................36, 56, 76, 82, 117, 136, 198, 214, 233 Educational Work ... ...................................................... 15, 55, 75 Editorial Policy for COOPERATION ................................................... 227 Hde, T. A......................."................................................ 202 Emblem, The League ............................................................ 137 England, Cooperation in.................................11, 31, 50, 70, 90, 152, 228, 229 Essay Contest ................................................................ 52, 111 Exodus No Cure for Farmers...................................................... 231 Fail, Why Some Cooperatives...................................................... 177 Farband Cooperative Housing Corporation.......................................... 231 Farmers and Merchants. ........................................................... 135 Fanners' Cooperation . . . . ...........................................54, 134, 212, 231 Farmers' Cooperation is Attacked .................................................. 54 Farmers' Exchange, Springfield, Mass............................................... 134 Fanners' Union Banks ......................................................... 75, 95 Farmers', United, of Alberta.....................................................30, 50 Figures for Larger Societies in U. S. A.............................................. 53 Finland, Cooperation in........................................................... 1^3 Finns, Cooperation Among the..................................................... 167 Fisher, Irving . . . ............................................................... " Foreign News ... ...........................................10, 30, 50, 69, 90, 129, 148 Fort Bragg Cooperative Mercantile Corporation...................................... 55 INDEX PAGE France, Cooperation in . . . .........................................11, 30, 70, 152, 206 Franklin Cooperative Creamery Association............................32, 35, 73, 92, 94 Frederick, N. D., Cooperative Mercantile Co.......................................... 213 Furniture Insurance . . . ......................................................... 91 G f}ary Ind., Workers Cooperative Association........................................ 230 Gasoline and Oil Stations, Cooperative. ............................................. 130 Germany, Cooperation in..................................50, 130, 148, 152, 172, 206, 209 Gide, Ohas. ......•••••••••••..••••••••••••••..••..••...•••...•......••.......... 51 Gilbert, Minn., Int '1 Work Peaple's Coop. Assoc..................................... 14 GrandaM, K. E. ................................................................. 202 Grange League Federation .................................................... 113, 214 Grangers Warehouse, Kent, Wash................................................... 162 Greece, Cooperation in ........................................................... 208 H Headgear Workers Credit Union .................................................. 33 Hedberg, Anders . . . ............................................................. 96 Herron, L. S. ...............................................................192, 202 Holloway, Violet F. ............................................................. 98 Housing, Cooperative . . . ............................................. .22, 34, 198, 230 Idrott Cooperative Cafe .... ..................................................... 15 Incorporation for Cooperatives .... ............................................... 76 Increase in Production . . . . ...................................................... 5 India, Cooperation in . . . ..................................................... 129, 130 Institute ................................................................. . .135, 150 Insurance, Group . . . .......................................................... 33, 211 Insurance, Workmen's Furniture Fire.............................................. 91 International Bank, Extraordinary................................................. 9 International Cooperative Alliance ..............................................66, 90 International Cooperative Alliance and Soviet Cooperation............................ 29 International Cooperative Day ................................................ 110, 146 International Summer School .... ................................................ 94 International Wholesale Cooperation .... ....................................... 31, 96 International Woera- tive Movement, owned by and con ducted nnder the auspices of The Co-operative Union of Canada. Published monthly 75c per annum "The Co-operative Pyramid Builder" Official Organ of Co-operative Central Exchange is a snappy, live co-operative magazine. Get in line! Subscribe NOW Subscription price 50c a year. CO-OPERATIVE CENTRAL-EXCHANGE Superior, Wis. CO-OPERATION, 167 West 12th Street, New York. Please send CO-OPERATION for one year to Name. .......... Address... » - $1.00 a year,- 20 COOPERATION PUBLICATIONS —OF— THE CO-OPERATIVE LEAGUE HISTORICAL Per Copy Per 100 ..$ .10 $6.00 .10 6.00 6.00 3. Story of Co-operation ............. 7. British Co-operative Movement..... 38. Consumers' Co-operative Movement in U. S., 1926................. .10 39. Consumers' Co-operative Societies in N. Y. State (Published by Con sumers' League ................ 59. Co-operative Movement in Europe . . 64. Progress of Co-operation in United States ...................... .05 .10 .05 4.00 4.00 2.50 1.00 TECHNICAL 4. How to Start and Run a Rochdale Co-operative Society ............ 6. A Model Constitution and By-Laws for a Co-operative Society....... .05 8. Co-operative Education. Duties of Educational Committee Defined... .10 9. How to Start a Co-operative Whole sale ........................ .10 27. Why Cooperative Stores Fail...... .02 2. Co-operative Store Management..... .10 14. How to Start and Run a Women's Guild....................... .05 15. How to Organize a District Co-opera tive League ................... .10 29. Credit Union Primer (By Ham and Robinson). .................. .50 43. Co-operative Housing ............. .10 50. A B C of Co-operative Housing.... .10 51. Model Lease for Co-operative Apart ment House.................... .10 MISCELLANEOUS 16. Model Co-op State Law............ .10 46. Producers' Co-operative Industries.. .10 '1. Control of Industry by the People through the Co-operative Movement .10 12. Credit Union and Co-operative Store .05 33. Credit Union and Co-operative Bank .05 13. The Place of Co-operation Among Other Movements .............. .25 34. Co-operative Movement (Yiddish).. .02 30. " When the Whistle Blew " (Story, by Bruce Calvert) .............. .06 65. Reading List on Co-operation....... .10 66. International Directory of Co-opera tive Organizations .............. .60 41. Social Aspects of Farmers' Co-opera tive Marketing (By Benson Y. Landis). .................... .25 42. Co-op Homes for Europe's Homeless .10 53. Real First Aid for the Farmers.... .05 55. A Better World to Live In........ .05 57. How a Consumers' Co-operative Dif fers from Ordinary Business..... .02 60. The " Moral Equivalent " of Jazz... .02 62. Buttons (League emblem), $& inch diameter . . . . . . . . . .......... 63. Sign or Transparency of League Em blem. Green and gold, 8 in. diam.. .25 67. Stock certificates, engraved, with League Emblem. Bound in books of 100, 200, or 250. ONE-PAGE LEAFLETS (One Cent each; 50 Cents per 100; $2.50 per 500; $4.00 per 1,000.) (1) Principles and Aims of The Co-operative League; (20) Why Loyalty Is Necessary; (21) Cost and Crime of Credit; (25) Resolutions Adopted by A. F. of L.; (26) Factory Workers Co-operatel; (28) Do You Know About Co-operation in Europe?; (40) Have You a Committee on Education and Recreation?; (44) What Is the Co-operative Movement?; (45) Schools and Stores; (47) A Man's Right to a Job; (48) Tin. f Co-operators; (49) A Way Out; (61) Co-operatio^ Brings Disarmament. lon MONTHLY PUBLICATIONS CO-OPERATION—(In bundle lots, $7.50 per hun dred). Subscription, per year........... Jinn INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE BULLETIN (Pub. by the I. C. A.)...........Per Year, $1 50 $1.65 if paid by check. *1-3U BOOKS The following books are recommended as containing the best discussions of the modern Co-operative Move .10 4.00 ment. They may be ordered through The League: 1.75 1.25 .60 2.00 15.00 Bergengren, Roy F.: Co-operative Banking, A Credit Union Book ..................... Blanc, Elsie T.: Co-operative Movement in Russia . . . . . . ........................ Brightwill, L. R.: Animal " Co-op " Book—For Children . . . . . . . ..................... Chase and Schlink: Your Money's Worth, A Book for Consumers .................... Faber, Harald: Co-operation in Danish Agricul ture, 1918 ............................. Flanagan, J. A.: Wholesale Co-operation in Scotland, 1920 ......................... Gebhard, Hannes: Co-operation in Finland, 1916 Gide, C.: Consumers' Co-operative Societies American edition and notes, 1922. Cloth.. Hall, Prof. Fred: Handbook for Members of Co operative Committees ................... Harris, Emerson P.: Co-operation, The Hope of the Consumer, 1918. Paper bound........ Holyoake: Rochdale Pioneers ................ Howe, Fred C.: Denmark, a Co-operative Com monwealth, 1921 ....................... Jessness, O. B.: Co-operative Marketing of Farm Products ......................... Madams, J. P.: The Story Retold............ Mears and Tobriner: Principles and Practices of Co-operative Marketing................ Nicholson, Isa: Our Story................... Oerne, Anders: Co-operative Ideals and Problems Owen, Robert: Autobiography .............. Poisson, E.: The Co-operative Republic....... Potter, B.: Co-operative Movement in Great Britain .............................. Redfern, Percy: The Story of the C. W. S..... Redfern, Percy: The Consumers' Place in So ciety, 1920 ............................. Smith-Gordon & Staples: Rural Reconstruction in Ireland, 1918 ........................ Smith-Gordon and O'Brien: Co-operation in Denmark. . . . . . . .................... Smith-Gordon and O'Brien: Co-operation in Many Lands, 1920 ..................... Stolinsky, A.: The Co-operative Movement. (In Yiddish). ...... ...................... Warbasse, J. P.: Co-operative Democracy, 1927.. Warbasse, J. P.: What is Co-operation, 1927... Warne, C. E.: Consumers' Co-operative Move ment in Illinois ........................ Webb, B. and S.: The Consumers' Co-operative Movement, 1921. Board, $2.00; cloth..... Webb, Catherine: Industrial Co-operation, 1917. Woolf, Leonard: Co-operation and the Future of Industry ........,..............••••• Woolf, L.: Socialism and Co-operation........ CO-OPERATION, Bound Volumes, 1915 to 1926 inclusive, each ....................••••• Report of American Co-operative Congresses, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1926, each..........--• Northern States Year Book, 1927. Paper..... The People's Year Book, 1928. Cloth, $1-00; paper bound .................•••••••• (Ten cents postage should be added for all $3.00 2.50 .15 2.00 2.75 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 .60 1.00 2.00 2.50 .50 3.20 .25 1.25 .50 1.75 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.00 l.SO .50 5.00 1.50 1.00 1.50 'm ' (MENTION A magazine to spread the knowledge of the Cooperative Movement, whereby the people, in voluntary association, produce and distribute for their own use the things they need. Published Monthly by THE COOPERATIVE LEAGUE 167 West 12th Street, New York City CEDRIC LONG, Editor tered as Second Class matter, December 19, 1917, at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Price $1.00 a year. VOL. XIV, No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1928 10 CENTS i*. -.. r ••*- '* m AMALGAMATED COOPERATIVE APARTMENTS as they appear from one end of the t-ejifrci Court. This latest addition to cooperative housing colonies m New YorTt City is the first and only housing organization in the State thus far to take advantage of the new State Housing Law and so win exemption from taxation on its buildings for 20 yews, an item which reduces the monthly rental charges by more than $2.10 per room. 22 COOPERATION COOPERATION 23 Amalgamated Cooperative Apartments On Christmas Day 500 people assem bled to celebrate the opening of the Amalgamated Cooperative Apartments, the latest cooperative housing accom plishment in New York City, center for so many experiments in cooperative housing. Aaron Rabinowitz, member of the State Board of Housing, expressed the opinion of many experts like himself when he said, "The Amalgamated apartments are among the best accom modations that have ever been con structed in this city for families of wage earners, and demonstrate most forcibly the possibilities of the State Housing Law." To know just what he meant it is necessary to review some of the past history of this effort of the organized clothing workers to provide low priced living quarters for themselves in the world's largest city. In 1924 some of the members began to talk cooperative housing, and in 1925 land was purchased fronting on Mosholu Parkway, just south of Van Cortland Park. Before houses could be built, however, permission had to be obtained from 14 owners of real estate in the vicinity, for the district is so restricted that apartment houses cannot be built without consent of adjoining property owners. And it took a long time to get that agreement signed. However, ground was finally broken on Thanks giving Day, 1926, and the building begun. The first member-tenant moved into the first completed house on Novem ber 1, 1927. The relationship of this colony to the Union of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America is close. It was the leaders of the union who planned and put through the vast enterprise. It was the special A. C. W. Corporation, stock of which is owned by the union, which did the actual construction supervision after buying the land. It was the Amal gamated Bank and the -Amalgamated Credit Union which helped finance the building operations and the individuals who.wanted to take apartments (at an initial payment of $500 per room). But the completed colony itself is an independent organization, incorporated under the ordinary business law of the State and supervised by the State Hons- ing Board, but with all the stock to be owned by the tenant members. Thus though many union organizations had a finger in the organization and financin» of the colony, now that it is completed they retire to permit the householders themselves free and complete control. There are nearly 50,000 members of this clothing union in the Greater New York area, yet the majority of the people living in the houses are members of other unions. In fact, approximately one- third of the 303 apartments are occupied by members of this particular union one-third by members of other garment trade unions, and one-third by members of miscellaneous unions and a few non- unionists. The Physical Structure The land belonging to this organiza tion is one entire block and a part of another block: the equivalent of 50 ordi nary lots 50 x 100 in size. . Across the parkway is being built the new De Witt Clinton High School at a cost of $6,000,- 000, the largest school in New York. Equally close is the new group, of build ings of Hunter College. City parkways border the cooperative land on the east and on the south, and a very short dis tance to the north is the huge Van Cort land Park. The originators of the project deter mined that there should be an abundance of light and air for every room, so they built on less than 47 per cent of the land and left the rest open for park and play ground. Thus there are no rear apart ments, and there are no rear rooms. In fact, every room looks out on some kind of a park, either the one belonging to the organization, or one of those belong ing to the city. The open space running down the center between the buildings is 566 feet long. There are 1,185 rooms, all of good size. Apartments are of 2, 3, 4, or £> rooms each. Buildings are five stones high without elevators. Between 300 THE COOPERATIVE HOUSES as they appear from Mosholu Parkway. ' Tliey cover cm entire city block, and there is one other house on the block beyond, hidden from the range of this picture. and 500 men worked on the grounds and the buildings. The president, A. E. Kazan, and his associates took nothing for granted, but carefully checked the cost of every piece of work and all material purchased, so that only the highest quality and the lowest prices passed muster. There are six buildings in all. The heat and hot water are supplied by a central plant of four oil boilers with average consumption of 1,000 gallons per day. Each apartment has a gas rang'e, a refrigerator, bath tub and shower, hardwood floors, incinerator, and very large closets. Walls and floors are well insulated to cut the noises down to the minimum. Finance One of the most interesting features of the organization is the financing of it. Three years ago the A. C. W. Corpora tion began collecting funds from pros pective members, but the small contribu tions which each individual could make wre a mere pittance as compared with the initial funds necessary for purchase «i land and early construction work. In tart, ftl.400,000 was spent before the buildings were in condition for the ^anting of the first mortgage by the ^letropolitan Life Insurance Company. u»s is a large amount of money and the organizers had to work hard to raise it; $479,000 came from the individual tenant-owners, $250,000 was loaned by the Jewish Daily Forward, and $172,000 was a first mortgage loan on the land advanced by the Amalgamated Bank. The remaining half million came from six subsidiaries of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union in the form of loans, all guaranteed by the union. On December 1, 1927, however, the Metro politan Life Insurance Company granted a first mortgage of $1,200,000 at 5 per cent, and enabled the organization to repay many of these short-term loans. To-day the entire $1,825,000, which is cost of land and buildings, is covered by this mortgage and the $625,000 invested by the tenant-members. This works out to an average cost of $1,625 per room. The annual cost of operation and maintenance is estimated at $150,000, divided as follows: $47,400 for light, heat, insurance, repairs and administra tion; $60,000 for interest on borrowed money; $20,000 for amortization of first mortgage; $5,000 for taxes on the land (taxes on buildings are exempt for twenty years under the special Housing Law utilized by the organization) ; and $18,000 dividend at 3 per cent on the capital subscribed by the members. This last item is used as an emergency fund during the first year or two, in case 24 COOPERATION COOPERATION 25 other expenses have been underesti mated, and members may possibly have to forego their dividends at first. This overhead expense, reduced to terms where it is best understood by the aver age householder, means $10.75 per room per month "rent." The actual charge being made is $11, so there is provided a safety margin of more than $7,000 annually. But this $11 is remarkably low for any kind of new building in New York, even where all the other social and financial advantages are not to be had. In fact, two years ago prospective mem bers were told that monthly charges were to be from $12 to $14 per room. The fulfillment is much better than the promise. How can these rents be kept so low? It is partly due to this tax exemption. On that one item alone the officers esti mate a saving of $2.11 per room per month. Then the low financing costs, both in building and in the first mort gage, save the tenants another $3 per room per month that would in most houses be charged against them. In fact, the cost of building was $100,000 below the low estimate made by the experts of the Metropolitan Life Insur ance Company. The Cooperative Services There is now being organized the A. C. W. Service Corporation, in which tenant-members of the houses may buy stock at $25 per share. This is the organization which will later operate stores and other commercial enterprises. But a beginning has already been made even without this formal organization. When the lighting system was installed in the buildings, one central electric meter was ordered, and the Edison Com pany has nothing to do with the local meters of each apartment. Current is sold to the houses through this one meter at wholesale rates, and each tenant is then billed by his own organization for current which he consumes. Here is one saving. Ice is handled in the same way, an employee of the organization taking the ice from the wholesaler and distributing it among the families. Milk is bought. bottled, but in wholesale quantities, and the same employee distributes the'milk and cream to all the apartments Recently the purchase of eggs VP& started under the same auspices Finally, a huge bus is owned by the organization and used to transport the children to the nearest primary school three-quarters of a mile away; on Satur days it carries parties of the younger children to the distant streams or the larger parks. In the basements of the buildings are a gymnasium, a large assembly hall and a soundproof music room. The playground with its appa ratus will be located across the street. Is It Cooperative? That is the question which many people will ask. Technically, there may be some reasons for doubting the cooper ative character of the organization, because it does not come under the cooperative corporations law, and the principle of only one vote for each mem ber cannot be enforced. Actually, most of the cooperative features are inherent in the organization. Each person may have four or five votes instead of one, but in the long run there is a very gen eral equality, and at meetings the Roch dale vote will be used for all practical purposes. Members are tenants, and tenants are members—a feature which is lacking in many of the smaller and older housing associations in Brooklyn and Manhattan which have proudly carried the title "cooperative" for many years. All benefits from economical operation are returned to the tenants either in cash or in reduced rents and other services. No sub-letting is permitted, and apart ments can only be sold back to the organ ization. Surely there are no really essential principles lacking. And the chief reason for not incorporating under the cooperative law is the necessity for getting under the new State Housing Law which grants tax exemption for twenty years. So long as there is that $2.11 saving on each room every month, without the sacrifice of any fundamental cooperative principles, the members car presumably get along without the actual legal status of a cooperative. They have the substance, and can let the shadow go. t'KT ,-*,-.«««!*»>: THE AMALGAM A TEtD BUS wTnch cavrieg the children of the members to the school which is three-quarters of a mile away. On Saturdays and Sundays this car is used for excursions- into the country, thus giving the mothers and the babies their share of free auto rides^ The] 1ms is owned by the Association and one of the men employed about the buildings acts as driver. Who Are the Officers In Charge? The president is A. E. Kazan, for many years an ardent cooperator and at present in charge of the Amalgamated Credit Union as well as of the housing organization. B. C. Vladek of the Daily Forward is vice-president. The secre tary is Jacob Potof sky, one of the officials of the union; and the treasurer is Adolph Held, cashier of the Amalgamated Bank. "A thousand gifted orators telling the workers what they could do if they would with their massed money power could not be as convincing as the group of six buildings in the upper Bronx. There stands against a winter skyline a more convincing argument for cooper ation than was ever uttered by the most gifted speaker. They are a promise of what all the workers some day will do for themselves." So writes Charles Ervin, editor of Advance. The other cooperative housing groups in New York, in fact cooperatives of all kinds, will welcome this newest and very significant addition to the cooperative societies in the United States. It is such demonstrations as these latest housing associations of Greater New York which promise a powerful influence in the future. THE PROFITEERS GET RICHER The number of people who receive annual incomes of more than a million through the exploitation of the pro ducers and consumers increased in 1926. Total income received 1925 1926 Number of such incomes 206 228 Total income received .. $464,363,644 $490,309,478 The number of people who get more than one million of income has been going up pretty steadily during the past fourteen years. They have numbered as follows: 1914...... 60 1921. 1915...... 120 1922. 1916...... 206 1923. 1917...... 141 1924. 1918...... 67 1925. 1919...... 65 1926. 1920...... 33 21 67 74 75 207 228 In 1925 there were only seven people with incomes of more than five millions. In 1926 there were 14 with such incomes. Though these incomes do pay taxes to the government, such taxes amount to only 11.17 per cent of all taxes paid. •I COOPERATION 27 26 COOPERATION The Point of View By J. P. WARBASSE COOPERATION AND THE CLASSES I have spent much time lecturing among the colleges. Usually I meet the classes in economics. In some colleges I have spoken before the whole student body in chapel, or before some special group in social ethics, labor problems, or sociology. Often a session has been held with the advanced students in eco nomics or with the Liberal Club of the college. - Members of the faculty have always been present. Except in chapel, a question period has followed all lec tures. I have had from one to three lectures in each college before these various groups. I have had similar experiences among the trade unions, on some occasions go ing into their halls all the way across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is my practice to present Coopera tion not in the form of propaganda, but as a scientific economic problem to be discussed from the standpoint of its ac complishments as well as its economic and social connections with life and labor. There is a rather prevalent idea that college students are taught a lot of eco nomic bunk and that most of them are wasting precious time by going to col lege at all. As one meets college students he de velops a respect for their learning. So far as our better colleges are concerned it is neither an easy thing to get in nor is it any less easy to stay in. A pretty high degree of scholarship is required for each. I have been impressed by the good un derstanding of the fundamentals of eco nomics and by the interest in these prob lems which the students display. The question period is most illuminating. College students ask intelligent and searching questions. In the trade union, in the church, in the general forum, and before the busi ness men's clubs, one hears some foolish questions. But not in the college lecture room. When students hear a lecture which presents an economic system which would displace capitalist profit business and cause the political state to fade away and become unnecessary, they have listened to the most radical' doc trine that is discussed. It is interesting to observe how sympathetically they re ceive it and how dispassionately they discuss it. One realizes that it is not radicalism that intelligent people are afraid of They have fear of what calls itself radi calism and that would bring disorder and suffering into society without the power of systematic and effective or ganization of the economic forces after the disorder is created. Real radicalism, that can go on and prove that it has the power to build a better and more just society, without being preceded by chaos and without producing suffering, is accepted and con sidered with intelligent interest and sympathy. Intelligent understanding of these facts and intelligent interest are not confined to any class of people. The student body in the department of eco nomics in the average American college is quite as radical and quite as sympa thetic to a radical program as is the average of the working class people in the same community outside of the college. That is not saying a great deal. Neither of them responds sympatheti cally to what generally is called radical; and what really is not. Both respond sympathetically to the program of Co operation. The Cooperative Movement in the United States does not fill a pressing need in the lives of the people because the people do not understand that they really need it. Only by education will they come to that understanding in the present state of industry and prosperity. This education is slowly reaching the people who want it. A culture is being- built up which is friendly to the great change that Cooperation brings. Consumers in Wonderland By STUART CHASE (Continued from January number) FAST SALES FOR FAST CARS The speedometer for a well known car is made under specification by another famous company. The specifications re quire correct reading up to 35 miles an hour with a gradually increasing error in the direction of more registered speed than actual speed, to 75 miles an hour. On this deliberate error, advertising copy has been based and thousands of cars have been sold. Mr. John C. Dinsmore of the Univer sity of Chicago invited 10 famous brands of'white enamel paint to decorate a test room for a period of two years. The brand which received the majority vote for being in the worst condition at the end of the period was one of the most widely advertised, one of the highest priced, and one of the most reputable of them all. This is disturbing news for one who has been repeatedly assured that reputation is always based solidly on performance rather than on page spreads. "THIS IS NOT ADVERTISING, IT'S THE TRUTH" In a recent advertisement in the Sat urday Evening Post, the United States Rubber Company makes the observation that "these statements are facts, not ad vertising copy.'' Which is a dirty crack at advertising copy if T ever heard one. Another nice distinction is made by certain advertising men who say—I quote from R. L. Hunt of the George Batten Corp. "that since the public is going to discount the statement anyway, it should be made stronger than the facts warrant so that its actual effect may be more nearly what is deserved.'' In Printers Ink for October, Mr. Brian Rowe discusses the "Creation of Obso lescence"—As a Sales Device. He won ders—and the consumer cannot fail to wonder with him—why "we struggle to keep waste out of manufacture and de liberately create waste in consumption.'' His thesis is that there is a growing tendency to speed up changes in style, to shorten the life of products that once were made to last and that now are made with an eye single to early obsolescence. He cites men's clothing, kitchen uten sils, furniture, motor cars, linen, phono graphs, watches, collars, spark plugs, crank case oil, hats. He says that qual ity is getting worse and that obsolescence is "wilfully created by an increasing number of manufacturers." I am not sure that the case is quite as dark as he paints it, but Mr. Rowe raises a point of profound economic importance. If ad vertising and salesmanship are forcing' the American productive mechanism to make two cars where one would suffice, two sets of furniture, two overcoats, two phonographs, two radio sets, industry is throwing away half its labor power, half its raw materials, and thus holding the standard of living to 50 per cent of what it might be. Is this a situation which can properly be called progress? Or is it in the last analysis the throttling of progress ? • Says the Radio section of the New York Sun: "There are two things wrong with advertis ing in genera] and radao advertising in parti cular. One fault is fraudulent statements. Of the 14 full-page advertisements in a recent issue of a radio magazine, one-third were mis leading—two cases bordering on what we should term fraud. The manufacturers are responsible for this. When they themselves have not conceived the exaggerations, they have permitted their agencies to play them up. "The other fault is gentle exaggeration and genera] blurb. This is the public's fault. So long as we consumers play up to Barnum—so long as we fall for flattery and prefer it to a straight tale of quality and results—so long will this valueless verbosity be a large share of value received." The Sun. if I may say so, said a mouthful. WHAT WE POOR DUFFERS WANT This is only the briefest of glimpses into the Wonderland in which the inquir ing consumer finds himself; sometimes 28 COOPERATION COOPERATION 29 funny, sometimes not so funny. We have the documentary evidence to fill at least two more books. The cases are not universal, but they are altogther too frequent. With the result that uncer tainty among such consumers as have minds superior to that of the amoeba is universal—for a great variety of prod ucts. They are never sure with an un tried article whether they are going to get their money's worth or get gloriously stuck. Even old and tried products have a habit of changing their formulas some times. And so a ragged battalion of us are crying for more facts and less poetry. As consumers we want more reliable information about the quality, the util ity, the cost, and if you please, the thera peutic value of the necessities, and even some of the luxuries, that we purchase. We do not, or at least I do not, want all the technical facts about everything be low the line of super-luxuries—it would bore me to death—but every now and again when I am buying a suit or a shirt or a vacuum cleaner or a pair of shoes or an oil heater—and didn't I get stuck with an oil heater—I would like to feel a little more intelligent and a little less like a helpless idiot. I would like an authoritative and independent source to which I could turn for help. From the interest that people are taking in what Mr. Schlink and I have written, it ap pears that I am not alone in this desire for a few less slogans and a little more light. The consumer has his part, how ever small, in the great epic of American salesmanship. He has to pay for it. It is his case, and his case only for which I have the presumption to plead. To hold that anything can come of that pleading is, I grant you, presumptuous. When one surveys dispassionately the lowly and turgid mass which is the con sumer on the one side, and the efficiency, the intelligence and the impregnable assurance of you gentlemen who know your business so well, on the other, it seems almost hopeless. I am doubtless a fool not to play golf, read the American Magazine, catch the 8:26 from Bronx- ville and save at once my breath and the strong probability of languishing in the lock-up for libel. The consumer's case I know something about. I am one. For him, if he should ever have red blood enough to want them, I have a number of constructive- no, defensive, suggestions. But to tie well disciplined army on the other side of the Rubicon I can only hurl defiance_ puny, ill-advised, but passionate. In respect to price, frankly I do not see how it is possible to reconcile the two points of view—that of the seller and that of the buyer. It can be done with a fine flow of rhetoric—full of such words as "service," "common aims" "cooperation," "two parts of a united whole"—which leaves us all feeling per fectly splendid, but without an iota of an effect upon our tangible behavior when we get back to the desk or the counter. The buyer is trying to get the maximum of goods for his dollar, while the seller is trying to get the maximum of dollars for his goods. No amount of apple sauce can bridge this chasm. That is why I object obscurely and vocifer ously to the rank hypocrisy of the whole modern cult of "service." As a buyer I am going to use my purchasing power to force as much in the way of quantity as I can get. As a seller you are going to collect the last cent the traffic will bear. You always have done so, you always will—until the rules of the game of business are altogether changed. Let us admit this obvious fact, and stand embattled but devoid of hypocrisy, face to face. I make the claim, and I think that I can prove it, that in all too many lines the consumer is not getting his money's worth. He has been tempted, flattered, cajoled, frightened, coked up, threatened, sex appealed to, misinformed—until his mind, as an instrument for appraising value, is a jelly. This may or may not be good for business, but it certainly is not good for the consumer. CAN WE BOLL OUR OWN? Of course his mind may be too far gone ever to be resuscitated to function with intelligence and discretion. Per haps he is destined forever to walk his mile for a dromedary—though Dr. John B. Watson has proved that, blindfolded, scarcely one man in ten can recognize his favorite cigarette; to read unsmiling the label '' guaranteed not to fade; fast olors," and to buy n^s furniture on the assurance that it is made of lumber from contented trees. But a few of us are waking up and setting off as many alarm clocks as we can lay our hands upon. Ttfe represent the buyer, first, last, and all the time. We have no more respect for the tender susceptibilities of the seller, than he has had in the past for us Which is precisely nil. He has forced his goods upon us by every con ceivable legal means, and as the Federal Trade Commission can tell you, by means that have frequently been not so legal. Against that sales forcing, that employ ment of all the arts of wonderland to make us buy what we too often do not want and do not need, we—the alarm clock squad—propose trenches, tanks, barbed wire, machine guns and every defense—except poison gas. To hell with business when it over charges me, misinforms me, adulterates my goods, or hits me below .the belt with subtle psychological appeals. The more that sort of business piles up on the rocks the better I shall like it. Meanwhile if enough of us lowly consumers demand more facts and less poetry about the goods that we buy, there will be plenty of business men ready to meet that sort of demand. What proportion of manu facturers in recent years have gone cas cading to eternity because their goods were better than their sales appeal? But, gentlemen, confidentially between ourselves, I do not think that you need to worry very much—at least just yet, as Professor Veblen would say. There is only a cloud as big as a man's hand in the sky. You always know what you want and the consumer mostly doesn't. Some day perhaps the worm will turn and we—you my friends and possibly two chastened bad boys—can all lean over the window ledges of heaven to gether—our halos slightly askew—and Watch the show. It ought to be good. (The End) Cooperation Abroad SOVIET COOPERATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE ALLIANCE The leading article in the December number of the International Coopera tive Bulletin is on the above subject. It is evident that the Executive Committee of the Alliance realizes that something must be done about the relation of cooperation to communism. The last three congresses of the Alli ance admitted the Russian communists, who took more and more of the time of each congress to talk communism to the exclusion of cooperation. The situation has now become so serious that there is grave doubt ex pressed by cooperators as to the wisdom of holding another international cooper ative congress. The feeling has grown very strong that another congress, with Russian communist representation, will be the last that the cooperators of the world will be able to stand. The article says: "For some time past the attitude of the Soviet Cooperative Organizatio